


Getting It Right

by T Verano (t_verano)



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Community: sentinel_thurs, Episode Related: Cypher, Gen, Sentinel Thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-10
Updated: 2011-04-10
Packaged: 2020-03-10 03:05:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18930016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/t_verano/pseuds/T%20Verano
Summary: Inside David Lash's head.(This will only make sense if you're familiar with the episode "Cypher.")





	Getting It Right

**Author's Note:**

> written for Sentinel Thursday challenge 381, "prospect"

The coffee shop is crowded and he has plenty of time to look at the menu above the counter while he waits. 

_Cappuccino_ …no. At night, after dinner — a dinner date — yes, but not first thing in the morning. Not for _him_.

 _Espresso._ No.

 _Flavored syrups._ Definitely not.

 _Cocoa._ He lingers over that one for a moment, even if the menu calls it hot chocolate, because it would be so… _deliciously_ apt, wouldn't it? People share confidences over a cup of cocoa, after all; it's cozy, nostalgic. He shivers just a little, internally, and glances away from the menu and around the shop at the tables, at the people sitting alone or in pairs, with all their little confidences and secrets.

_Delicious._

The person in front of him moves one step closer to the counter, and he remembers that he still needs to decide what he should have.

 _Tea._ He mulls that over while the line slowly edges forward. Tea is classy, a little academic, a little…eccentric, maybe. _Very nice._ On the other hand, since he'll be going in to work soon and it's his first day on this new consulting job, coffee might be better. _Plain_ coffee. He's a respected professional now, a medical man as well as an academic, and straightforward, no-nonsense. Focused, but friendly.

Yes. That's it, exactly.

When he finally reaches the counter he orders a medium-sized cup of the house coffee blend and pulls out his wallet. His fingers touch each of his credit cards in turn, but it's obvious, really — American Express is always the most appropriate card to use for business travel, isn't it? No pre-defined limits, and you earn reward points as you use it. So practical.

The girl at the cash register doesn't take the card he's offering her. "There's a ten dollar minimum for a credit card," she says, pointing to a sign he hadn't noticed. 

He frowns — noticing things is his _profession_ , after all — but then he relaxes and offers her the card again. "That's okay," he answers, smiling pleasantly, "just add in the rest as a tip." He may not like to carry a lot of cash while traveling, but he does earn a good salary. He can afford to be generous. The girl looks startled, but she's smiling now, too. As she starts running the card through he tells her, "Think of it as overcompensation," even though he doesn't think she'll get it.

He's right; she doesn't get it. Still, Dr. Anthony Bates smiles all the way out the door and down the block as he heads towards the Cascade Police Headquarters building, drinking his just-right coffee.

==============

The early morning light is gray and wet as he looks out into it from one of the windows in his current digs. Gray, wet, and uninspiring. Boring.

He taps his lips thoughtfully with his finger. Maybe it's time for a change. Tony isn't as strong as he'd hoped he'd be; he does okay at the police station and with Banks and Ellison — he's still useful there; quite a kick, really — but he just doesn't have much else going for him. 

Bo-ring.

It's okay, though. It's coming. It's in the air; he can feel it. He'll know who _soon_.

And this time, it'll be somebody _fun_. With a _life_. 

What's the point of having boring friends, after all? They just… they just let you drown —

 _Down._ They let you _down_. Tony would call that a Freudian slip, of course.

It really is time for a change.

_Soon._

==============

On his way downtown for the morning's meeting with Banks, his eyes are constantly roving. Most of the people he sees don't rate more than a passing glance since this time he's already got something specific in mind, a certain kind of energy, a… a _vibe_. Yeah.

He keeps his eyes open after he gets to the station, keeps them open all day long, but he's not expecting to hit pay dirt here. Everybody here is boring, butch… He can make friends with _anybody_ if he has to, he's good at that, but he wants it to be special this time. Tony's been good to him up until now, but face it, Tony always was a smug, self-righteous know-it-all. He was a shrink, after all.

Nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there. 

The thought makes him smile, but he's careful to keep the smile inside. He leafs through the folder that's lying on the table in front of him and prods Tony to make a suggestion to Banks. It's fascinating, really, playing out the line a little, reeling it in, watching Banks and Ellison flounder. Tony's at his best when he's playing the cops, at his least boring.

But tonight…later tonight he needs to go out prospecting. Find a new friend, a better friend; somebody really _worth_ hanging out with. 

_Soon._

Banks looks at his watch and sighs. "Gentlemen," he says as he clicks the TV on and a local newscast appears. His voice sounds weary and frustrated.

It's really too bad that cops are such a drag. Banks is a powerful man and that could be exciting; Ellison's powerful, too, in a slightly different way. Tony could admire them both, he really could. But they're cops and they'd be too much of a drag, not enough fun. He deserves better than that.

Besides, he's been jerking them around with ridiculous ease — where's the romance in that? The mystery? These two clowns are open books to him, and not very smart books. They're not worth his time.

They _are_ amusing, though — and he'd better watch that, make sure Tony doesn't slip away from him yet. It isn't time, since Tony still has some work to do, and _Tony_ doesn't find Captain Banks and Detective Ellison amusing.

The local yokel on the TV confides his latest newsflash to the citizens of Cascade, and Tony doesn't find that amusing either, even though between _'transvestite'_ and 'drag' and Banks' clueless response, he's finding it harder to not find it amusing than it should be. He needs to be careful.

The door to Banks' office opens and a long-haired, wild-eyed, very un-cop-like guy barges into the room like he belongs here. "Okay, I've got this whole thing figured out," he says, but he doesn't just _say_ it, it sort of bursts out of him. Like Fourth of July, fireworks going off.

Talk about a vibe, man. 

Talk about _energy_.

 _Dude_ , he thinks, and he isn't bored at all any longer. _Saved by the door._ "Remarkable," he says, and he means it, as he makes Tony keep talking, makes him introduce himself, like you do when you want to make a new friend.

"Right on the money," he says, and he means it, he really does. _Just right._

_Soon._


End file.
